|  As
we brace ourselves for GE canola on the eastern seaboard,
an authoritative new book suggests we're dicing with
our future. Story by Margaret Evans
In late November, Australia elected a new government.
After months of unrelenting and obscenely expensive
campaigning, both official and unofficial, it all seemed
strangely anticlimactic. Hints perhaps of the old saying,
"The more things change, the more they stay the
same."
Just three days later, with extraordinarily synchronistic
timing, the governments of NSW and Victoria announced
an end to their moratoria on genetically engineered
canola crops. While this joint event was almost lost
in the pale afterglow of the election result - for once,
the PR trumpets were strangely silent - the repercussions
of this decision are vastly greater than the outcome
of even the most overblown election result. While supporters
of GE cropping are rejoicing, those who've paid closer
heed to its remorseless spread across our globe are
unified in both their condemnation of the decision and
their concern at what it means - for our health, our
food choices, our future generations, our environment
and ecosystems, even our economy. The words of a spokeswoman
for Japanese consumer groups which import 450,000 tonnes
of Australian canola each year were strikingly direct:
"If Australian farmers start growing GM canola,
it would be a very big problem for us." And for
us.
Into this gathering maelstrom has dropped, in another
example of synchronicity but, this time, one that is
working to our benefit, a book which, in its accumulated
detail, shatters the myths that, somehow, GE foods are
better for us. Or at least not harmful. The ominously
titled Genetic Roulette is the latest work by Jeffrey
Smith, best selling author of Seeds of Deception and
adviser to leaders on every continent about the risks
of going the GE route. The book is published in Australia
by Melbourne-based Gene Ethics with the intention of
providing hard evidence of documented health risks of
GE foods, a gap that has been cynically exploited in
the decision to lift the bans in NSW and Victoria.
We're reminded that when the moratoria on the commercial
development of GE crops were implemented in 2003, it
was to allow for scientific testing to assess health
risks to take place. This decision has been taken, in
the case of the NSW Government four months before the
moratorium was due to expire and, in the case of Victoria
three months early, despite the fact that no such significant
testing has yet been undertaken anywhere in Australia.
The NSW Government has stated that proposals to plant
GM canola must first be approved by an expert committee,
while Victoria is not, it seems, imposing any controls.
One can only wonder at the precipitous nature of this
decision taken in a climate where 250 companies including
Australia's largest food producer, Goodman Fielder,
and the country's biggest lamb exporter Tatiara Meats,
have recently urged an extension of the GE ban. In a
letter to State premiers, Goodman Fielder warned that,
"consumers are increasingly concerned about the
uncertainty surrounding the possible long-term effects
of consuming genetically modified material." Those
concerns will be greatly heightened as soon as they
start reading this book.
Over the past two years, Smith has worked with more
than 30 scientists to document known proven health risks
- and that is the strength of what is essentially an
impressive compilation of investigative journalism.
It presents no fewer than 65 health risks, the first
20 dealing with adverse findings linked to GE products.
It records literally thousands of toxic and allergic
reactions, thousands of sick, sterile and even dead
animals - chickens, rats, sheep, cows - and multiple
organ damage in laboratory animals. Along with the reports
on the 12 cows in Germany that mysteriously died after
eating corn engineered to produce Bt toxin (that's where
a gene from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis
is inserted into the plant DNA as a built-in pesticide);
the rats that either developed stomach bleeding or died
after being fed GM tomatoes; soy allergies skyrocketing
in the UK in a single year after the introduction of
GM soy; the heavier livers in rats fed GM canola; one
report bears stark testament to the wisdom of nature
contrasted with the aberrations that man can inflict
on it. It documents eyewitness accounts of animals avoiding
whole fields of GM crops - geese turning their beaks
up at GM soybeans so completely that they left a demarcation
line down the middle of the field with grazed natural
beans on one side and untouched GE beans on the other;
squirrels leaving Bt corn untouched even when they'd
consumed all the natural corn cobs left out for them
by an Iowa farmer, and this in the coldest days of winter;
cattle that broke through a fence and walked through
a field of GM corn just to eat the non-GM variety on
the other side. If only we'd learnt from our animal
friends!
Beyond these first 20 studies, the last of which relates
the case of a GM brand of the food supplement L-tryptophan,
that was found to have killed close to 100 people and
caused illness or disability in another 5,000 to 10,000
in the US in the 1980s, the book details another 45
health risks based on current scientific understanding
and theory. Genetic Roulette is, as Michael Meacher,
former British Government Environment Minister, says
in one of three impressive forewords: "the authentic
book on genetic modification that the world has been
waiting for. So much has been written about GM - some
of it thoughtful and interesting, much of it mischievous
or downright deceitful - but none of it systematic,
authoritative and comprehensive. What has long been
needed is not more polemic, but the facts, the unvarnished
detail that provides the evidence on which people can
make up their own minds. This book is it."
For instance, we learn from no fewer than 11 examples
that gene insertion may disrupt the DNA leading to mutation;
another nine examples suggest problems caused by the
protein produced by the inserted gene; we read of six
instances where the foreign protein may be different
from what was intended; we learn that, despite industry
claims, transgenes can survive the digestive process
and "wander"; that GM crops may well accumulate
toxins in the food chain; and, the greatest worry of
all, that the risks of GM foods are greater for children
and newborns. Perhaps regulators and avid supporters
of genetic engineering from farmers through to politicians
to agribusiness executives, even shareholders in biotech
companies, should pause a moment and take in the measured
words of acclaimed environmentalist and winner of the
UNESCO science prize, David Suzuki: "The ability
to introduce alien genes into a genome is an impressive
technological manipulation but we remain too ignorant
of how the genome works to anticipate all of the consequences,
subtle or obvious, immediate or long term, of those
manipulations. This book validates the concerns of biotech
critics who warned that our knowledge is too primitive
to avoid the unexpected and deleterious consequences."
Let's look at just two or three of the health risks
highlighted to glean a small sense of what could await
us now that Australia's two most populous states have
let the GE genie out of the bottle.
Researchers Terje Traavik and Jack Heinemann have discovered
evidence that refutes the earlier assumption that DNA
was fully destroyed in the gut and thus dismissed in
risk appraisal of GM crops. Instead, they found that
DNA fed to mice was found to "persist in fragmented
form in the gastrointestinal tract, penetrate the intestinal
wall, and reach the nuclei of leukocytes, spleen and
liver cells." Marker and transgenes were found
in the intestines of chickens, sheep and pigs. They
concluded that, "when pregnant animals are fed
foreign DNA, fragments may be traced to small cell clusters
in fetuses and newborns". They go on to suggest
that the uptake of transgenes could "ultimately
lead to development of chronic disease conditions".
The capacity of DNA to survive in the gut has added
to widespread concern about the practice of inserting
antibiotic resistant marker (ARM) genes into most GM
foods on the market. These genes allow cells to survive
applications of an antibiotic. The concern is that if
ARM genes were allowed to transfer to pathogenic bacteria
inside the gut or mouth, they might create super diseases,
with multiple antibiotic resistance. Such multiple resistance
is already an alarming problem even where no GMOs exist
in the environment, a reality experienced in many Australian
hospitals. An internal memo from the US Food and Drug
Administration's Division of Anti-Infective Drug Products
is revealing: "It would be a serious health hazard
to introduce a gene that codes for antibiotic resistance
into the normal flora of the general population."
Genetic Roulette raises concerns that pregnant mothers
eating GM foods may endanger their unborn children and
that this "altered gene expression" could
continue to affect future generations-the field of study
called epigenetics. It documents a 2003 study where
scientists managed to change the coat colour of baby
mice by feeding their mothers four common nutritional
supplements before and during pregnancy and lactation.
The study reported in Molecular and Cellular Biology
showed the genetic change also showed up in their offspring
and lowered their resistance to obesity, diabetes and
cancer.
In these 65 health risks, supplemented with more than
40 pages of small print Endnotes, there is a great deal
more to concern us all, but that's beyond the scope
of this article. Maybe we should let ourselves be guided
by some of those who've earned our trust over years
of trying to improve our nation's health. One such is
nutritionist Dr Rosemary Stanton who is accorded the
first of the forewords in this impressive book. Identifying
herself as "someone trained in science", she
is strongly critical of the inadequate level of research
on GM foods and the prevailing attitude among agribusiness
companies to refuse to allow "adequate and independent
testing". She clarifies what has long been the
major stumbling block preventing adequate safety testing
of foods even when this lack has been repeatedly questioned
- the USFDA's acceptance of industry assurances that
GM foods modified to resist particular herbicides are
"substantially equivalent" to non GM foods
and therefore don't require safety testing. And while
the public has shown a willingness to accept medical
applications of gene technology, says Dr Stanton, they've
made it clear they don't want GM foods.
"The difference is that medical products have
a benefit, are tested before release, and their use
is restricted and contained. GM foods, on the other
hand, get minimal testing and companies push for their
widespread environmental release - with scant regard
for any long-term effects." And the fact that GM
foods have been consumed for some years in the United
States is "no proof of their safety since there
has been virtually no appraisal of their health effects.
Indeed, without labelling, there is no way that any
public health problems could be identified." Suddenly,
that jumbo burger and fries with a soda enhanced with
who knows what becomes even less digestible than it
would otherwise be!
We read elsewhere that at the beginning of 2007, just
12 months ago, there existed just over 20 peer-reviewed
animal feeding safety studies on GM crops. "Only
a single human feeding trial has been published and
there is no post-marketing surveillance on those eating
GM foods."
Given the concern expressed across the globe, from
the European Union to China which both reject GM food
technology on safety grounds, to food producers locally
who see the immediate loss of Australia's once vaunted
"natural, GM-free" status and the market premium
that commands among health conscious consumers the world
over, to organic food producers who are already foreshadowing
legal action if their crops become contaminated with
GM canola, perhaps the worst possible choice of crop
because it pollinates, even the reservations of farmers
themselves and they're the ones who'll be growing it,
the decision of the NSW and Victorian governments to
lift the bans must continue to be questioned. There
is still much soil to be turned before GM canola becomes
a fact of life in this country.
* To have your say, visit these websites:
* To avoid GM foods, shop organic, support non-GMO
labels or check out shopping guides that identify GM
and GM-free food brands. US brands are listed at www.Responsible.Technology.org
* Visit NOVA Magazine's website www.novamagazine.com.au
for recent stories on GM and Epigenetics. In the Articles
archive you'll find "The Missing Link" - Dr
Peter Dingle's exploration of Epigenetics (Issue 13.6,
August 2006), and "Gearing up for GM" by Margaret
Evans 2007 (Issue 14.7, September 2007)
* Write to your local MP and the appropriate Federal
Ministers
* Or look out for this book: Genetic Roulette Jeffrey
M. Smith Gene Ethics RRP $28.95
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